Our Philosophy

We believe that a book should be based on original research and thinking and have something interesting and worthwhile to say. We subscribe to these words from LDS scholar Hugh Nibley: “[Most Latter-day Saints] think it more commendable to get up at five A.M. to write a bad book than to get up at nine o'clock to write a good one—that is pure zeal that tends to breed a race of insufferable, self-righteous prigs and barren minds. One has only to consider the present outpouring of ‘inspirational’ books in the Church that bring little new in the way of knowledge: truisms and platitudes, kitsch and cliches have become our everyday diet. The Prophet would never settle for that: ‘I advise all to go on to perfection, and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness. . . . It has always been my province to dig up hidden mysteries—new things—for my hearers.’” (“Zeal without Knowledge,” in Approaching Zion [Provo and Salt Lake City: FARMS and Deseret Book, 1989], 75.)